3 Ways Millennials Waste Time Without Knowing It

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Guest post written by

Daniel Marlin

I'm a writer, marketing and business consultant.

Nothing makes a productive person more guilty than the feeling that they’re wasting time. Whether you sit reflecting on precious hours you’re never going to get back, punish yourself for not working hard enough, or stop yourself enjoying life because you need to catch up on something – wasted time can be the cause of many woes.

But far worse than this conscious feeling of guilt is a failure to realise that you’re wasting time at all. Some actions seem inconsequential because we don’t see the effects they have as they accumulate over several weeks or months. But research shows that each results in days of wasted time every single year.

But by understanding how these simple habits impact their daily lives, Millennials can take deliberate action to utilise their time effectively. And in doing so they’ll be better equipped to achieve their goals.

Here are three ways Millennials waste time without even knowing it.

Playing with their phones

Sometimes the tools we use to control our lives, control us. While our smartphones are instrumental in planning our days, setting reminders, and communicating with one another – we often pick them up out of habit (even when they aren’t ringing).

A 2016 study followed the device usage of 100, 000 people over a five day period. By tracking every tap, swipe, and click participants made on their smartphones, researchers where able to deduce that theaverage user touched their phone 2,617 times every day. That’s over 2.42 hours of phone usage, most of which is spent on either Facebook or Google.

But what’s more alarming is that an estimated 47% of these interactions occurred on phones with locked screens, and researchers didn’t include them in their final touch tally. That means that people possibly spend an additional 2 hours a day checking phones that aren’t even unlocked.

A further study found that the lower the age group, the heavier device usage became, with people between the ages of 25 and 34 representing moderate to heavy usage every day. All of this suggests that Millennials have a neurotic, compulsiveness that dominates how and when they use their phones. And if left unchecked, this habit will consume much of the average Millennial’s valuable time and energy.

Removing excess apps, turning off push notifications, and keeping your phone out of your bathroom, dining area, and even your bedroom, are practical ways to curtail your phone usage and free up time for more valuable experiences.

Making and cancelling plans

Technology makes it easy to make plans, but even easier for people to cancel them. Our ability to instantly communicate means we organise social arrangements left, right, and centre – but in doing so we quickly find ourselves overextending our schedules or committing to plans we have no intention of keeping.

While flakiness isn’t a uniquely millennial problem, it’s an extremely prevalent one. In fact research suggests that43% of people between the ages of 18 – 24 routinely cancel plans through social media, and this results in a lot of irritation, apologies, and wasted time.

As Millennials become more reliant on digital communication, they get used to the detached and impersonal interactions social platforms facilitate. Most of their social activity occurs online, while many of their real-life arrangements fall by the wayside.

The problem is that these cancelled plans still involve organisation, coordination, communication – and above all else, time and energy. Worse still, people don’t have backup plans to spend their time effectively if they’re flaked on, and it’s not uncommon to see an entire evening waste away.

Of course there are solutions. Millennials can make sure not to overbook themselves, focus on making plans they’re actually interested in, and give each other advanced notice if a cancellation is unavoidable. A little bit of responsibility and accountability can save everybody a whole lot of time.